This invention is directed to a toy which has two similar body parts which alternately are capable of moving one in front of the other to cause locomotion of the body across a surface. The body parts are connected by a crank means which governs the locomotion of the toy.
Many toys are constructed which utilize a crank to propagate or direct certain motions of or within the toy. Commonly associated with the crank will be a connecting rod allowing conversion of rotating motion to linear motion or vice versa. Commonly a wheel or the like will be attached to the crank and will be rotated by the crank or an appendage will be pivotedly mounted within a toy and attached to the connecting rod and thus will oscillate in response to the rotation of the crank.
A few examples exist however wherein leg like appendages have been linked to cranks and are used to move the toy. Examples of this are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,024,135 wherein an upright figure is described as movable in response to a motion of two legs positioned on crank pin portions of a crank. This principle is extended in U.S. Pat. No. 2,036,427 wherein four legs are utilized to move a toy. Each of these four legs is positioned on the crank pin portion of two vertically stacked cranks and opposite pairs of the legs are also coordinated. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,617 a toy having eight legs is described. The eight legs are formed on four "U" shaped members, the parallel sections of the "U" each forming a leg.
In all of the toys mentioned in the above preceding paragraph the toys are propelled by two or more legs which are attached to a body via a crank shaft or the like. All of these rely on having some sort of connecting means between the legs in order to maintain the appropriate orientation of the legs with respect to a supporting surface. Further in these toys either the housing, the double crank, or the "U" shaped member also maintains the legs in a parallel relationship with one another. Heretofore it has not been known to have a toy wherein two body halves are connected together with only a single crank.
The toys noted in the patents listed above have certain play value because of the interesting manner in which they move on a surface. By incorporating cranks directly with the movable supporting members of these toys an almost walking like motion is imparted to the toy. It is considered that a toy which could move with a walking like motion but which did not require a plurality of legs such as four or more or a housing in which two or more legs are attached would be a very novel toy and thus of considerable play value.